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Cruz spokesman accuses Trump of being establishment "cartel paymaster" for years

Cruz and Trump are getting nasty as the Iowa caucuses approach on February 1

(CNN)A top aide to Ted Cruz charged Tuesday that Donald Trump won't be able to makeover Washington because he's in bed with established interests and leading Democrats.

"He's been the paymaster for the cartel for a long time," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told CNN's John Berman on "New Day." "Donald Trump wouldn't go and shake it up. He would go in there and make deals. He would compromise."

Running neck-and-neck in Iowa, home to the February 1 caucuses, Trump and Cruz have dropped the buddy routine that characterized the early part of the campaign and have spent the last week ripping each other -- Trump over Cruz's attack on "New York values" and the Texas senator over his rival's ties to the Democratic Party.

"The same Democratic Party that [Trump] gave money -- to Eliot Spitzer, to Mario Cuomo, to Hillary Clinton, Anthony Weiner," Tyler said. "So Donald Trump, as we saw on that 'Meet the Press' interview from 1999, has a lot of progressive liberal views."

Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Republican presidential candidates line up on stage before a debate Thursday, January 14, in North Charleston, South Carolina. From left are Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Jeb Bush. It is the sixth GOP debate of this election cycle and the first of 2016.

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Trump, who has been leading GOP polls for months, answers a question during the debate. "I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly, and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger," he said.

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Cruz speaks during the debate. The senator from Texas opened the event by talking about the U.S. sailors recently detained by Iran. "Today," he said, "many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. ... I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America."

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Bush waves to the audience. The former Florida governor has been trying to build momentum that he had in the early stages of his candidacy, and he went after Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton early in the debate. "She's under investigation with the FBI right now," he said. "If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that."

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Rubio delivers an answer during the debate. He frequently attacked President Barack Obama. "When I become president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders," the senator from Florida said. "When I'm president of the United States, we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military."

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Carson promised this week he would "insinuate" himself into the conversation when needed. After a discussion between Rubio and Christie during the debate, Carson told moderator Neil Cavuto, "Neil I was mentioned too." Cavuto asked, "You were?" Carson quipped, "Yeah, he said everybody." On a more serious note, Carson noted the "divisiveness and the hatred" in today's society. "We have a war on virtually everything -- race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imagine, we have people at each other's throat," he said. "And our strength is actually in our unity."

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Kasich touted his economic record as governor of Ohio. "Our wages are growing faster than the national average," he said. "We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life."

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Christie, like most of the candidates on stage, continued to be tough on the current administration. "Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama," he said of the recent State of the Union address. Christie also said "you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House."

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

From left, Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina and Rick Santorum arrive for the "undercard" debate that took place a couple of hours before the main event.

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, delivers remarks during the debate. "The biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of middle America is the breakdown of the American family," he said. "We have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children."

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Photos:Republicans debate in North Charleston

Fiorina makes a point during the undercard debate. "The state of our economy is not strong," she said in her opening comments. "We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. ... It's time to take our country back."

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Huckabee laughs during the debate, which was hosted by the Fox Business Network. His opening statement was much more serious. "There are a lot of people who are hurting today," said the former Arkansas governor. "I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it."

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Asked about speculation that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will endorse Trump later Tuesday, Tyler conceded he would be "deeply disappointed" if it were true, but insisted Palin's brand would be hardest hit.

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"I think it'd be a blow to Sarah Palin, because Sarah Palin has been a champion for the conservative cause, and if she was going to endorse Donald Trump, sadly, she would be endorsing someone who's held progressive views all their life on the sanctity of life, on marriage, on partial-birth abortion," Tyler said.

Palin, who became a tea party star after rising to national prominence as John McCain's running mate in 2008, told CNN's Jake Tapper she was undecided during an interview at a "Politics on Tap" event in December.

"I'm not going to pick one right now, but what a nice problem to have if it came down to Cruz and Trump," Palin said. "That's a good problem for voters to have, because we know that, as you say, they are both strong and very decisive and someone who would take the initiative. That is what we need today, and both of those candidates would fit that bill."